Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

No, my playing skills to date are at a very low level, and I cannot come close to showing my acoustic piano to its best effects. (I'm beginning to be worthy of my NP-11, though.)

On the other hand, having a piano I really appreciate is an inspiration to keep practicing diligently, so the gap between the level of my playing and the level of the piano is always decreasing. I'll never close that gap, but as long as this piano contributes to a desire on my part to improve, and as long as I continue to pursue improvement, I'll be glad I have it.

at first i wanted to get rid of my digital(almost did but first sale didn't go through, maybe it's a sign!) cause i didn't think i'd have enough room in my apartment since i got my acoustic. but, i've had a change of mind and now trying to convince my hubby to keep it. he now thinks i have 1 too many. i do like the convenience of being able to play at night without having to worry about our neighbors (and hubby). i feel like i'm going to regret selling my digital if it comes down to it. but, i certainly don't regret getting my acoustic.

Originally Posted By: Andy Platt

If you only played your grand for the ABF recitals it would still be worth it ... to me anyway

I regret having to get rid of my digital. Not my decision. Days I've regretted, or even thought about regretting, my K3: Zero. I may be wrong but I seriously doubt I could ever regret buying a grand ... if I ever got to the position where I could get my wife to allow it!!

_________________________
Adult beginner since January 2013. My only regret is that I didn't learn sooner.

As long as you respect the art, you are worthy of any piano you can afford.

Good comment.I too have felt like not being worthy of my new Grand, not a high end one but still much better than what I can do at just over a year of lessons...in a not so well defined study program.But I do respect the art and have added a lot more hours a week after getting the Grand so for me it only made me work harder and more disciplined to reach my goals of playing classical..so I guess skills wise I am not, but in other aspects, I am worthy if it.

but, i've had a change of mind and now trying to convince my hubby to keep it. he now thinks i have 1 too many. i do like the convenience of being able to play at night without having to worry about our neighbors (and hubby).

Your husband and my wife would get along very well. "Only one piano shaped object in the house." Try as hard as I could to find a digital piano shaped like a couch (apparently as many of those as you could possibly want can be in the house) ... I just couldn't!

I think my baby grand and I are a pretty decent match. It suits my style and the music that I like to (try to) play. I have no regrets buying it, and it also serves as decor in the show room of my studio. And because of where it is, I can easily sit and practice multiple times throughout the day.

Before that I always played my Casio digital. It was very inexpensive but allowed me to practice in private when I was first learning. It is still useful especially for learning 'softer' music that my BG's voice isn't really suited for.

My 'buyer's remorse' piano is a Cable Nelson upright, that I purchased brand new about 6 years ago. It is in my house, where I rarely play. I wish I could sell it, but pianos are a dime a dozen in the classified ads here. So it unfortunately is just furniture most of the time. (I do play it some times, just not enough to seem worthwhile having it there). Sad.

Needless to say, there is some kind of deep, subconscious, psychological concept here somewhere; I just don’t know exactly what it is yet.

Are you worthy of your piano? Which one…

My pride and joy is my older (1978) Yamaha C7 semi concert grand piano. I bought it from a rather large Pentecostal church that had built a new auditorium and went to all digital pianos, and I got a pretty good deal on it (I think). Since a new C7 is in the neighborhood of $50K, I’d say I got a great deal, in spite of some ware on it here and there.

My playing skills are meager, elementary and unorthodox, to say the least; but the fun and enjoyment I get when I’m attempting to play my C7 is enormous; puts a smile on my face and gleam in my eye every time. I figure the physical, emotional and spiritual high I get when I’m playing is better than a drug, and not as sickening as alcohol. Yet, I’m on cloud 9 when I’m pounding away on an oldies rock-n-roll tune or a popular pop tune, or a classic country tune, or a good-ole southern Gospel tune or even what little classical pieces I know.

Am I worthy of my piano? Probably not, but I’ve been well blessed!

Rick

_________________________
Piano enthusiast and amateur musician: "Treat others the way you would like to be treated". Yamaha C7. YouTube Channel

I have a Boston GP 156. It came into my life sort of by accident, when I once made an off-the-cuff (and probably ill-considered) comment about wanting to buy a grand piano 'someday' while within earshot of the wannabe patron of the arts who happens to be my grandfather. The next day he informed me (by SMS) that he had bought a grand piano, to be delivered to my new apartment January 31. Oh, and also: how was I going to pay for it?

So I now have a grand piano, which cost me an unplanned €8.000 up-front (plus 24 monthly payments), sitting smack-dab in the middle of my living area. Despite being one of the smallest grands in existence to still be considered musically viable, it is *just* this side of too big. The piano is both literally and figuratively the centrepiece of my private space, now, and it clashes rather badly with my original vision for the arrangement of my furniture.

But is it worth it?

Heck, yeah.

If you had asked me in early December (before the sudden appearance of the Boston in my life) whether my playing was worthy of a grand piano, I would have burst out laughing. I'd have considered it a ridiculous question, because until my grandfather pulled his grandiose 'hey, I bought you a piano' party trick, the idea that I would ever really acquire a grand piano was nothing more than a pipe dream on my part. I didn't (and still don't really) believe that my playing would *ever* be worthy of a grand.

But now that I have one, I have to say: it is a joy. I unblushingly advise any beginner who can even remotely afford it to get a good, well-tuned, well-regulated grand piano to practice on.

Worthy? Well, I don't know about that. I know I love every sound that comes form it....that it inspires me to practice and try my best to make beautiful music...that I searched long and hard before she found me. I've never had one regret about the purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat. And I do believe it has helped my playing.

What I feel guilty about is my poor Clavinova, sitting untouched and unplayed for two years now, like a jilted lover. It is a fine instrument for what it is and deserves to be played by someone. I really should sell it.

I aspire to some day have the financial means necessary to feel unworthy of my piano.

For now though, I certainly don't feel that my 1978 Vose & Sons spinet is unworthy of me. It's been abused and neglected (not least of all by me and my kids -- reversing the order of the actions/actors) and is still a serviceable musical instrument.

_________________________
"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF

This may be the first time in my life when I'm actually better than my equipment Certainly my racing skis and my climbing gear were better quality than my ability to race or climb But now I have a 1905 Howard upright that will sort of stay in tune with itself except for the C an octave below middle C, and a Casio PX-100 that's probably 8 or 9 years old with a headphone jack instead of a line out that's beginning to not make a connection any more if I want to run it to a sound system and the tone of which is sometimes so grating on me that I almost despair.

However, both of them are better than the centuries old Wurlitzer "electric piano" with a short keyboard and the headphones that looked like they came from a sopwith camel pilot. Tho I used it for something like 8 years.

However, I soldier on. And somehow I keep improving. But a real grand piano still startles me with it's volume

I think my old (1937) mediocre but servicable Kurtzmann small grand and I are pretty well matched. If I had anything better, I'd be in the uncomfortable position of that Oscar Wilde character who was daunted by the necessity of living up to his teapot. Anything worse, and I couldn't bear to practice.

LOL..love the Oscar Wilde quip- he was so witty and a legend...

My Piano is a semitone down from concert pitch and always will be, is over 100 years old and has some scratches and wax stains on his wood..perfect? No.. character? Yes. I love old things and am eccentric, so like you Frycek and your piano, my old Piano and I are matched fine. Though I do feel sorry for Piano that I cannot play well as my teacher plays Ragtme on Piano and then he comes alive! Yes, Piano is an old boy...

What I feel guilty about is my poor Clavinova, sitting untouched and unplayed for two years now, like a jilted lover. It is a fine instrument for what it is and deserves to be played by someone. I really should sell it.

I think of my piano as being kind of like a husband. My U3 is just totally comfortable and right. My piano and I are greatly in love with each other and spend lots of our free time together. At first I was rather over awed by it and the fact I owned it. Now it's just more like a familiar friend or relative whom I adore.

It is a thing of beauty, but not so much so that I find it intimidating. It's a very approachable piano and everyone it meets falls in love. I really need to stop personifying it so much though!!

Lovely post Toastie! I was in awe when I got my Piano home almost two years ago- I could hardly believe it and couldn't wait to tell my Mum I had a piano from freecycle!!! She likes Piano a lot and came and had a play the other week. Her parents had a piano in the 1950s and her older sister had some lessons. One day my Mum came home from school and the piano was gone- sold!..she never even had the offer of lessons. Funny as she can still play tunes she learnt by herself all those years ago.

I think of my piano as being kind of like a husband. My U3 is just totally comfortable and right. My piano and I are greatly in love with each other and spend lots of our free time together. At first I was rather over awed by it and the fact I owned it. Now it's just more like a familiar friend or relative whom I adore.

Ah... if only all marriages were half as good as this ideal...

Originally Posted By: EdwardianPiano

My Piano is a semitone down from concert pitch and always will be

That sounds curious... Why is that? My tuner has told me it's just a question of time and patience. If it's fallen rather flat it can't be jacked up all at once (lest any strings break), but bit by bit they can be stretched over a number of tunings.

_________________________
"...when you do practice properly, it seems to take no time at all. Just do it right five times or so, and then stop." -- JimF

I have a Clavinova digital piano from 1990. Didn't know what to do with it, so I picked up Alfred All-in-One Book 1 so I could be worthy of it. I wasn't making much progress, so I started getting lessons. Hundreds of hours later, I was better than my then 20-year-old Clavinova, so I got a Yamaha GC1 (little grand piano), which I was not worthy of. A thousand hours later, I felt I was struggling too much to get what I wanted out of it, so out growing that, I got a Yamaha C3X (6-footer) this year. Now, I'm really not worthy. Not sure how many thousands of hours it would require to be worth of the Yamaha C3X. I've become enslaved by pianos.

_________________________Art is never finished, only abandoned. - da Vinci

at first i wanted to get rid of my digital(almost did but first sale didn't go through, maybe it's a sign!) cause i didn't think i'd have enough room in my apartment since i got my acoustic. but, i've had a change of mind and now trying to convince my hubby to keep it.

Keeping your digital is by far the best choice for both of you. Having it for silent practice at night and for boring repetitious exercises will make his life more pleasant. Play some of that for him on the acoustic -- just keep practicing until he's convinced. ;-)

Keeping the digital also gives you two completely different touches to practice on, which will make you better able to adapt to different pianos.

See if you can find a way of storing the digital out of sight when you're not using it.

I have a Clavinova digital piano from 1990. Didn't know what to do with it, so I picked up Alfred All-in-One Book 1 so I could be worthy of it. I wasn't making much progress, so I started getting lessons. Hundreds of hours later, I was better than my then 20-year-old Clavinova, so I got a Yamaha GC1 (little grand piano), which I was not worthy of. A thousand hours later, I felt I was struggling too much to get what I wanted out of it, so out growing that, I got a Yamaha C3X (6-footer) this year. Now, I'm really not worthy. Not sure how many thousands of hours it would require to be worth of the Yamaha C3X. I've become enslaved by pianos.

I practiced on a mediocre Steinway upright for years before getting my first grand.

The digital I play all the time. I can easily discover new melodies and learn them easier and faster on the digital because the digital is just SO much easier to play. In addition, I can actually learn to play better on the digital because of the use of a pair of quality headphones.

The headphones allow me to hear very subtle variations in the sound being produced that the acoustical surroundings of my acoustic piano will not allow. In addition, I can (and often do) play very late at night which allows me much more practice time than if I only played the acoustic during normal hours due to all kinds of obvious reasons.

Acoustics in my experience have much more sound change than digitals. Also the acoustic can be set up to have lighter or heavier keys.

Maybe the problem is the sound level and maybe some inbalanced sound, and that your ears can't cope with the volume of your acoustic.

So maybe your grand and the room needs a bit of tweaking.

Serious question: did you do a checkup of your hearing recently?

Originally Posted By: Mr Super-Hunky

How about you. Are you worthy of the piano you are playing? Is it worth it to you? Do you deserve a better piano than what you are playing on? or do you feel a little guilty sometimes that you have an incredible piano that you hardly play?

Of course I'm worthy of my piano, I worked hard for every penny that it cost me. And I am sure my piano helped me to get where I am now. Who knows where an even better piano would have brought me. But I'm not sure if it exists :-D

I work hard on my playing but even if I did not, the bottom line is how it sounds and plays and how I enjoy that.

Of course I'm worthy of my piano. Someday I hope to be worthy of a grand but as of now, I certainly spend a lot of effort and time with my beloved U1 and it brings me much pleasure. Financially, I could swing a used grand but I'm not worthy yet.

I have a Clavinova digital piano from 1990. Didn't know what to do with it, so I picked up Alfred All-in-One Book 1 so I could be worthy of it. I wasn't making much progress, so I started getting lessons. Hundreds of hours later, I was better than my then 20-year-old Clavinova, so I got a Yamaha GC1 (little grand piano), which I was not worthy of. A thousand hours later, I felt I was struggling too much to get what I wanted out of it, so out growing that, I got a Yamaha C3X (6-footer) this year. Now, I'm really not worthy. Not sure how many thousands of hours it would require to be worth of the Yamaha C3X. I've become enslaved by pianos.

I practiced on a mediocre Steinway upright for years before getting my first grand.

Actually, what I said was more or less in jest. As much as I like our piano, I really don't consider it anything other than a tool. With 3 people in the house practicing piano, and both children who started very young moving more and more beyond my limits, it's reasonable to want the best piano possible for the 4-5 hours a day that it's being used. Ideally, I think a piano should be better than the player. Considering the state honors, conventions, and competitions the kids have won, I was actually considering a new Bösendorfer/Steinway at one point, but alas that would put too much of a strain on the family finances. Our Yamaha C3X is a good normal standard piano. My kids are talented and advanced for their age but neither are prodigies. On a selfish note, I'm kind of glad they are not, as I've seen how much sacrifice parents have to make for children who are.

_________________________Art is never finished, only abandoned. - da Vinci

That sounds curious... Why is that? My tuner has told me it's just a question of time and patience. If it's fallen rather flat it can't be jacked up all at once (lest any strings break), but bit by bit they can be stretched over a number of tunings.

Piano was given to me by a couple on freecycle and it is fair to say I rescued him...he had sticky keys, some broken hammer shanks, bridle tapes worn etc so I got poor Piano refurbished. He wasn't taken care of in the last ten years it seems, and his strings are a bit rusty. The tech even found coal dust inside when he took the action out. So he is not able to see concert pitch now. But he is in tune with himself, though I think he is due another tuning soon. Piano is about 113 years old and overdamped and straight strung but he is very dear to me.

That sounds curious... Why is that? My tuner has told me it's just a question of time and patience. If it's fallen rather flat it can't be jacked up all at once (lest any strings break), but bit by bit they can be stretched over a number of tunings.

Piano was given to me by a couple on freecycle and it is fair to say I rescued him...he had sticky keys, some broken hammer shanks, bridle tapes worn etc so I got poor Piano refurbished. He wasn't taken care of in the last ten years it seems, and his strings are a bit rusty. The tech even found coal dust inside when he took the action out. So he is not able to see concert pitch now. But he is in tune with himself, though I think he is due another tuning soon. Piano is about 113 years old and overdamped and straight strung but he is very dear to me.

LOL! I like that! Cecil B de Piano does make people smile and has character..Here's a funny true story....Piano/Cecil was living in the hall when I first got him as I lived in an upstairs room in a Victorian house ( what we in Britain call a bedsit)...yes this is proof of my eccentricity and longing for a piano that I got a piano and I lived upstairs!One morning I went downstairs to find red lacy knickers hung over Piano's music stand!I can only assume one of the other tenants had had a lady visitor the night before...I told them Piano was too old for all that!

Cecil B. DeMille is the subject of many Hollywood legends. According to one famous story, DeMille once directed a film that required a huge, expensive battle scene. Filming on location in a California valley, the director set up multiple cameras to capture the action from every angle. It was a sequence that could only be done once. When DeMille yelled “Action!,” thousands of extras playing soldiers stormed across the field, firing their guns. Riders on horseback galloped over the hills. Cannons fired, pyrotechnic explosives were blown up, and battle towers loaded with soldiers came toppling down. The whole sequence went off perfectly. At the end of the scene, DeMille yelled “Cut!” He was then informed, to his horror, that three of the four cameras recording the battle sequence had failed. In Camera #1, the film had broken. Camera #2 had missed shooting the sequence when a dirt clod was kicked into the lens by a horse’s hoof. Camera #3 had been destroyed when a battle tower had fallen on it. DeMille was at his wit’s end when he suddenly remembered that he still had Camera #4, which he had had placed along with a cameraman on a nearby hill to get a long shot of the battle sequence. DeMille grabbed his megaphone and called up to the cameraman, “Did you get all that?” The cameraman on the hill waved and shouted back, “Ready when you are, C.B.!”.